This week's roundup includes an unusual craft season at the premiere party for True Detective's third season in Los Angeles; Google's theme park ride at C.E.S. in Las Vegas; LondonHouse Chicago's Willy Wonka-inspired catering package; and LG's waterfall video installation at C.E.S. in Las Vegas.
LG Electronics created a striking audiovisual installation with 260 LG OLED digital signage screens in curved and flat configurations. Developed in house, the exhibit was 20 feet tall and 65 feet wide, and it featured 76 concave, 72 convex, and 112 flat 55-inch screens. The video installation displayed changing images of waterfalls, the desert, ocean, and natural lights.
The premiere for the third season of HBO’s True Detective took place January 10 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. The event, which was designed by Billy Butchkavitz Design, featured a creepy, life-size corn husk doll that guests could pose with—a motif taken from the new season of the anthology crime drama, which stars Mahershala Ali. Guests could also make their own corn husk dolls. Agile Eye Solutions provided props and Town & Country Event Rentals provided rentals for the event.
The event featured a faux forest where guests could pose in crime scene photo ops.Â
A photo booth aged half of guests’ faces, nodding to the use of flashbacks in the series.Â
Facebook and Instagram set up their C.E.S. headquarters at the Wynn Hotel Las Vegas. To celebrate the engagement of one billion stories shared daily across Facebook’s apps, the brand partnered with creative agency 72andSunny and luxury candy designer Maayan Zilberman of Sweet Saba to create a social-media friendly tunnel. The tunnel’s mirrored walls featured custom sugar art lollipops of stickers available on Facebook and Instagram Stories. We’re Magnetic produced the activation.
Google highlighted its A.I.-powered virtual assistant with an outdoor space in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The main attraction was a theme park ride that seemed to take inspiration from It’s a Small World at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The three-minute musical coaster, powered by Google Assistant, took attendees through a house with an animatronic family. The ride told a story about a husband asked to pick up a cake for a surprise party. At the end, riders were given a picture, a branded macaroon, and a free Google Home Hub redemption code. Google partnered with Sparks for the activation.
Beginning in December, AmericanAirlines Arena partnered with chefs from Hollywood’s Diplomat Beach Resort for a culinary collaboration known as the Chef Partner Program. The residency is offered at the Miami Heat’s Flagship Lounge and is accessible to premium members. The series kicked off with celeb chef Geoffrey Zakarian and featured items like stone crabs, crawfish mac and cheese, roasted pomegranate-glazed short rib, a red snapper taco station, and more. Following Zakarian’s December stint, chef Michael Schulson is the January host, and Diplomat Prime is slated for March.
LondonHouse Chicago’s new catering package lives up to its name. The package offers Nerd-covered cheesecake pops, made-to-order cotton candy, and everlasting Gobstoppers, among other sweets. The menu options inspired by the classic Roald Dahl children's novel include suspended “Violet” blueberry treats with vanilla cream ready to be plucked off the wall. The LondonHouse culinary team can even create custom-wrapped chocolate bars with a select few containing “golden tickets” for raffle prizes.
LA Photo Party now offers an immersive, virtual reality-fueled photo booth. Guests capture images of themselves in front of a green screen, then decorate it with digital paints and patterns; customized brand watermarks, overlays, and backgrounds are available. Still photos and behind-the-scenes videos provide a shareable keepsake.Â
Titan the Robot, a robotic entertainment act originally from the U.K., will make its U.S. debut in the Las Vegas market this month. TMEG Productions is the exclusive event partner for the robot, which will be available for corporate events, private events, and trade shows. The Transformer-like robot can be branded with company logos and can perform customized scripts and dialogue for speeches, trade booth activations, and product demos. Titan also performs comedic acts and dances.
